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Just returned to work - Baby only wants to eat when I hold her

I just went back to work last Monday (April 6th) when my little girl was 7 weeks old. She eats only breastmilk, but takes a bottle all day while I'm off at work. I'm extremely fortunate, as my babysitter (a friend of mine - stay at home mom) brings her to my work every day during my lunch so I can nurse her. My problem is, the past few days my baby only wants to eat when I hold her. Since I've gone back to work, it seems I don't have enough time to nurse her, play with her, bathe her, and put her to bed, and the majority of the time I hold her, she is eating. Now I feel like she only associates me with her source of food...if I'm holding her and NOT feeding her, she just cries. Then Daddy holds her and she is fine. It is really heartbreaking Does anyone else have experience with a situation like this? Can anyone tell me how to fix this??

Re: Just returned to work - Baby only wants to eat when I hold her

I didn't have to go back to work as soon as you did, but I did run into a slightly similar problem with my LO at that age. His deal was he wanted to suck. And suck. And suck. Eventually, he'd be totally full of milk and he'd urp everywhere. Then he'd want to suck, and would get mad that milk was coming out, because he was so full. So finally, we figured out that after he was totally full, slipping the binky in his mouth would allow him to lay in my arms, fulfill his sucking needs, and relax. I think this only works if your nursing relationship is totally healthy, which it sounds like yours is!

Re: Just returned to work - Baby only wants to eat when I hold her

My baby is 12 weeks old and he still cries a lot when we hold him unless he is eating. I went to see a lactation specialist and she showed me some holds that helped him stop crying when I hold him.

They say that some babies like to be held facing out, or facing so your palm is on their belly. My cutie pie only likes to be held in these two ways. Unless he is nursing and then he is content to be held differently. It makes cuddling with him a real challenge.

If I hold him any other way he fusses. And sometimes, especially in the afternoons when we hit fussy time, he cries if I pick him up at all.

At first it made me sad because I thought my baby didn't like me. Once I was a the doctors office and he said to me "You can hold your baby while we talk." So I went to pick my baby up and he cried like that is the last thing on earth he wanted. Then when I put him down he stopped crying.

My doctor just laughed and said "Don't take it personally" That helped a lot, That's when I realized its not about not liking me at all. Babies are all about comfort at this age. So if he is crying its not a rejection of me. He is simply telling me something is wrong or he is uncomfortable, or not happy. Or sometimes I think my baby is like "Oh good, mom is here, I can tell her all about what made me unhappy today" And so he cries and cries, its kind of like he feels safe enough with me to really let me know when he is upset.

Anyways, its how I like to think of it. And I can totally relate to not getting anything done at the house. That's sometimes the hardest. Well, that and the sleep deprivation. but they say it gets better and it is getting a tiny tiny bit better with each passing week.